By lugger to Australia

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33065, 4 November 1972, Page 10

By lugger to Australia

Australia, the Hard Way. By David Pyle. 188 pp. Photographs. Hodder and Stoughton. It is not so surprising that a young man, dotty about boats, should sail one from England to Australia, but it is unexpected to follow him through the heart of France and across the Arabian desert. David Pyle, after an unsuccessful attempt in the single-handed transatlantic race, set his heart on the longest open boat voyage ever — from Chichester Harbour to Darwin — with one companion. His craft looks like a row boat with sails; it is, in fact, a Drascombe Lugger, an 18-foot day boat built on the traditional lines of the North Sea fishing boat, with jib, mainsail and mizzen sail, 7.5 h.p. outboard motor, and five-gallon fuel tank. They were a long time getting to any real ocean sailing, from Le Havre going through the French canal system all the way to the Mediterranean. They left the sea again in Turkey, for a 500-mile overland stage, by truck, to reach a point where the Tigris becomes navigable for a 1000-mile voyage to the Persian Gulf. The fact that they made it is reason enough for the modest book young David Pyle has written. He tells it all with casual detail, making no hero of himself or his crew-mate, and once again proves that there is still individual adventure for the making. And it is not money you need, just a crazy idea and determination.